Erin Adelsberger

Acceptable Use Policy Critique

Cool Springs Elementary
Overall the Prince Georges County Department of Education Administrative Procedure
0700 Acceptable Use Policy that we have adopted at Cool Spring Elementary is comprehensive
and includes sections that directly relate to the most common components found in acceptable
use policies as defined by study conducted by Flowers and Rakes in 2000. It includes sections on
purpose, policy, background, definitions, general procedures, technology acceptable uses,
prohibitions, consequences, web acceptable uses, policies for reporting violations, email
services, mobile devices, and VPN access. We also have a student version of this policy that
highlights the main points of the procedure in student friendly language.
The policy includes a wide range guidelines that cover teachers, staff members, and
students, there are portions of the policy that require a more in-depth explanation. There are
several areas of the policy that could be further clarified within the context of our own school.
For example, in the definitions section of the policy it states that technology includes
hardware, software, digital and web-based resources (Administrative Procedure 0700, IV). This
is an area that may vary by school, but it would be valuable to identify exactly at our school the
hardware, software, and web-based resources that are available.
Moreover, the policy does not clearly define the acceptable use of social networking
platforms in the classroom. Because our school has access to Edmodo (the online private social
network), it is important that we clarify some basic guidelines for the use of the platform within
our school.
One of the areas of the policy that appears to be particularly vague is the section that
addresses procedures and processes for reporting violations. The policy simply states, If a user
believes that there has been a violation of these guidelines, the user is to immediately contact a
teacher, school administrator or supervisor(Administrative Procedure 0700, VI, E). As a school
we need to clarify exactly how one is to file a complaint. Is email to be used? What about
someone who wants to report a violation anonymously? Is there a procedure for doing so?
Also, who receives reports of violations from teachers? When is it appropriate for a teacher to

escalate a claim made by a student and when is it appropriate for the teacher to escalate the
student report to an administrator or district level authority?
The answer to clarifying many of these points lies in clearly identifying persons to
receive reports both from teachers and from students. Once the persons have been identified,
it should be clearly communicated to the staff and students the names of these individuals. In
order to address the questions of what to do in certain situations, it may be valuable to develop
what-if scenarios that can be used as example. These scenarios should be specific to Cool
Springs Elementary and directly reference hypothetical situations involving real people,
locations, and technology devices and resources that are available at our school. One way to
beginning putting a school level procedure in place for reporting violations, would be through
the development of a school level team or task force that is suggested below.
I would suggest that our school take a pro-active approach to the implementation and
enforcement of this policy. Our school should consider have a school based Acceptable Use
Policy Committee or Task Force to help educate our staff about the importance of the policy, as
well as keep the staff abreast of changes in the policy. The Acceptable Use Policy was revised
and republished by the Prince Georges County Department of Education in September, 2013.
As technology in our school system continues to grow, change, and advance it is likely that this
policy will continue to be a living document that revised regularly. In fact, one of the final
clauses in the document states that the policy will be updated as needed. Having a team at our
school focused on communicating these changes will help maximize end user access and
understanding of the policies.
In addition, I would suggest that we implement some school level strategies for the staff
to follow to ensure that we are adhering the key points outlined in the countys administrative
procedure. Though we have a version of this policy specific to our school for students, we do
not have a version specific to our school for teachers and staff. This would mean coming up
with a practical set of strategies that we could as a staff could implement on a daily basis. Some
examples of strategies could be:

If you approach the photocopy machine or computer and someone else has left
their account logged in, please log them out and begin your own session.

Develop a school level system or policy that defines what students should do if
they have forgotten their login credentials. This strategy will help protect both
teachers and students, and will keep teachers from the temptation of logging a
student into a computer user their own credentials because it is more
convenient than having the student retrieve his or hers.

Review portions of the Acceptable Use Policy regularly throughout the school
year. Maybe different subgroups of teachers and staff are responsible for giving
a brief presentation on a section of the Policy at the beginning of each monthly
staff meeting.

We should also consider some strategies at the school level for the recently
implemented iPad program at our school as a result of the grant from Apple. Now that all
teachers and staff members have iPads, as well as the set of 60 traveling student iPads, we
should consider putting some strategies in place governing the use of these mobile devices.
One place where we could begin with this would be revising the student friendly version of the
Acceptable Use Policy here at Cool Spring Elementary. The last revision and publication of the
student policy contract was during the 2010-2011 school year. We have been reusing that
version for subsequent school year, but it is important to revise it to make sure it is in compliant
with the most recent iteration of Administrative Procedure 0700. Though it is important to
include these guidelines in a revised version of the student Acceptable Use Policy, we should
also consider putting in some strategies for teachers to follow as well.
By taking the administrative procedure put forth by the county and putting some
strategies in place that are explicit to our school and satisfy the requirements of the county
level policy, we will ensure safe and responsible digital citizenship for all.

References
Administrative Procedure 0700, http://www.pgcps.org/~procedur/1000/0700.pdf
Flowers, B. F., & Rakes, G. C. (2000). Analyses of Acceptable Use Policies Regarding the
Internet in Selected K-12 Schools. Journal Of Research On Computing In Education,
32(3), 351.